Gary Rowett praised West Brom’s ‘fabulous’ mentality in the ‘difficult conditions’ which dominated Millwall's defeat to Slaven Bilic's side. 

 

Filip Krovinovic and Dara O’Shea scored goals either side of the break as the away side showed their class to go four points clear at the top of the table. 

Millwall struggled to compete as West Brom maintained control of the game throughout, proving themselves to be a class above their Championship rivals. 

Rowett said: “West Brom’s mentality in difficult conditions were fabulous.

“I think when you play against a side like West Brom, as we found when we played Leeds recently, sometimes there is an extra bit of zip, an extra bit of composure about those type of teams which make it so difficult."

“It was a big gulf today. A lot of that gulf was because of our level of performance. It was not enough. We started the game like it was nice summers day in May. We were trying to pass the ball short and we gave them two or three opportunities."

“It was disappointing. I felt as though Pereira, Krovinovic and [Robson-] Kanu all caused us problems. Every time they found half a yard, they looked like they could find the space to put someone in which was largely down to our poor defending and partly to their good quality.”

West Brom went ahead towards the end of the first half, through Filip Krovinovic’s curled finish from the edge of the box.

The Baggies doubled their lead 6 minutes from time, Dara O’Shea scoring his first goal on only his 3rd league start, a near-post header from a corner.

Millwall failed to match their opponents offensively, as the Baggies managed 29 shots compared to the Lions seven. 

When asked about Millwall's lack of attacking flair Rowett admitted that his side are at a disadvantage. 

“We know those players cost money and we’re in a position where we’ve got options, but it's difficult for us, we’ve got to work incredibly hard to score goals," the Lions boss added. 

"We haven’t got lots of individuals to come up with a moment of brilliance and win us a game. We have to work incredibly hard and perform to a top-level and if one or two of our attacking players aren’t playing to their best, it makes it very difficult."

“ I can live with us not creating enough chances if we are solid at the back and difficult to beat, I didn’t think we were either today.”